


The Dive

by 4luvofbatsnwarmakeup (thewaynecondition)



Category: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Genre: I think its literally the first fic I ever wrote, Itty bitty thing I wrote ages ago, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-19
Updated: 2013-05-19
Packaged: 2017-12-12 07:37:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/808993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewaynecondition/pseuds/4luvofbatsnwarmakeup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ethan needs the team to know that their lives are worth just a much as his.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dive

            “You didn’t have to jump,” Ethan says.

            The team is back on the train, which the IMF has conveniently made into a moving safe house. Jane and Benji are hovering over the flattened screen, moving pictures and files with their fingers and chatting intensely about the upcoming mission. It doesn’t mean they don’t notice Will slink back to the same corner he hid in when he first joined them soaking wet and scared out of his mind. It doesn’t mean they don’t hear Ethan’s words. It means they’re being spies, covert and incognito.

            Will looks up at Ethan as he approaches; pupils green like Jane’s dress and curious like Benji always seems to be. Will is already a part of the team, of Ethan, without realizing it.

            “You didn’t have to jump,” Ethan repeats sitting by Will’s side, “when I hit the window.”

            “Are you insane? Of course I had to jump. You would have died, then where would we be? “

            “You’d still have a mission. There’s always a world to save.”

            “You think I would have been able to function seeing you fall one hundred feet to the surface of the earth? I couldn’t even handle seeing you go out the window. You would have been a puddle of bones and --.”

            “Thanks Will.” Ethan figures he’ll stop their former chief analyst midsentence before he starts to break down the fall into time increments and measures of velocity. He needs Will to understand what he’s trying to say, especially in light of his recent confession. “You don’t ever have to give your life for me. None of you do. You don’t owe me anything, remember that,” he adds because he knows the others are listening. Always has.

            “That’s not what I was doing.”

            The train jerks forward and a set of gloves bounce off of the back of Brandt’s head like the entire world is admonishing him for the lie. In truth, as far as Will is concerned the moment Ethan announced the entire IMF was disavowed, Ethan Hunt became the IMF. He became the last defense between terrorists and a world of oblivious people. Who else could be suited for the job?

             Ethan just smiles. He honestly  _smiles_  like he did when he saw Julia on the dock and when Will came out of the river asking how a simple plan managed to get the two of them out of trouble. Jane and Benji join them on the floor squeezing in tight until Will is sure he’s using Ethan’s feet to cushion his butt, knees spread wide around both of Ethan’s thighs. Jane’s legs slip under both of theirs like she’s playing London bridge and Benji is glad to accommodate her on the other side. He slips off her shoes and goes to massaging her feet. She rests her head on Will’s shoulder. Will stares at Ethan. Ethan stares back.  He can’t let the lie live when he’s surrounded by love like this.

            “Ok so maybe that’s what I was doing.”

            “I forgive you,” Ethan smirks, “I would have done the same thing for you.”

            Will laughs and Jane’s head bobs on his shoulder. “No you wouldn’t.”

            They all look at him. If Ethan Hunt is anything, it’s loyal and honest and reckless.

            “I wouldn’t ever scale the outside of a giant building so…moot point.”

            Benji feels obliged to remind him, “You jumped down an air shaft.”

            “And I was almost speared to death by your failed technology, so like I said…moot point.”

            They laugh and at some point during the night when the train is pulling them closer to another mission, to another day that might tear them apart, Will pulls the mats onto the floor and they cling to each other. They snore, and they dream that the person whose air they breathe, whose hands they hold, who they would jump for is safe for all time. Or at least till the train stops.


End file.
